Tony Stewart's full induction speech: NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2020

I want you to know that I had a really great

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prepared until this morning and then at the final practice, the

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was ruined and my gardening and I had to mention a backup speech, so we're going to give it the best chance we can. here, but due to technical difficulties and trademark infringement, we had parked the first car, so we'll try this and see how it works, but you know, last year it was this very night. I remember sitting in my cargo truck to race in Florida. getting ready for my heat race and I thought it would be fun to text Jeff Gordon and let him know what I was doing and how much fun I was having racing at night and for him to have fun and congratulations and It was an honor well deserved for him to be in the Hall of Fame and I always thought he was funnier than Jeff, but when Jeff responded with an answer that was too funny for me to respond because he said, "I'm just warming him up." ready for you for next year, I told myself not to put your head on me and I'll be damned if I was right, so in May when I was voted into this year's Hall of Fame class, I was truly honored, but he was.

I also have a big conflict in my head. I'm not old or at least I don't feel old. I still race, in fact I'm racing more now than I have in recent years, but In my opinion, the NASCAR Hall of Fame is there to honor the completion of one's career, with the exception of Winston Kelly, he believes that It's an excuse to get a bunch of free appearances from new members, but in the eight months since then, they've been nominated. to this year's class I have come to appreciate what an honor it truly is and to be one of the 55 people inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame considering NASCAR has been around for over 70 years, I think is crazy to me.

It is truly an elite group to be here and it is incredibly humbling to be a part of it. I didn't get here alone and I started in karts with my dad and worked harder than when I graduated to three-quarter midgets. It was Roy. Parker and Larry were extreme and I was able to use sacks on the midgets. I got help from Dan Leary Rowley to talk to Ralph Potter, Larry Howard, Larry Brown, Bob East, Steve Lewis and Keith Koons, and I got to race cars with Steve Chrisman, Ben Liebe and Glenn Nibel. and then in the silver crown cars with Gene Nolan Willie Bowles George Snyder and my friend and hero AJ Foyt, that led me to my IndyCar career with Larry Curry, John Menard and Chip Ganassi in between, they were dirt races of late model with Steve Barnett Brian accompanying. his family Big Block Modifieds and Rig Arrow and Davey Hamilton and Super Modifieds and even Kevin Harvick was crazy enough that he and Elena let me drive their Xfinity car and Rick let me drive his, but all of that has brought me here to NASCAR and In fact, I was able to stay here at NASCAR with the help of a lot of wonderful, nice, smart people, two of them were Jim Hunter and Mike Helton, and if it wasn't for those two guys, I wouldn't be here tonight.

I probably would have been knocked down in NASCAR my second season, but I can tell you this: I'm glad I'm still here and Jim and Mike were a great Ohio. I get a lot of credit for that and when it comes to Mike, I can actually race at racetracks and sanctioning bodies because of him and the knowledge he gave me. He helped me figure it all out and allowed me to grow as a person. Mike. I want to thank you very much and I really appreciate it. our friendship, in fact, the entire France family gets credit.

None of us are here without them right now. I'm very proud of what Jim Lisa does and now seeing Ben's big things and his huge role is encouraging for all of us and I can. I'm not waiting for him to announce that we're going to have a dirt race in the Xfinity Series and Cup Series at Eldora and Burton Smith. Thank you, your visionary who knows how to promote and a lot in general, when I get into a bind. He was always there to give me direction and when I broke my scapula, leg or back, it was the doctors Jerry Petty Bill HEIs one can Breath who fixed the associations I have had in sports since The beginning with Home Depot and now I am with Mobil 1 and Rush Truck Centers.

A cure that you can't achieve without all these guys that these partners extend to our OEMs and to our manufacturers. I am extremely proud to resent representing the blue oval. Wordsworth or the NASCAR team and my sprint car team and we won with them on dirt and asphalt. The support we have had from all the OEMs throughout my career. Ford, Toyota, Chevy and Pontiac is something I really appreciate and big congratulations, Depswa. your historic award is an exceptional contribution to NASCAR, you definitely deserve it my friend, and we've had so many great brands help us along the way, but after Joe and I were talking this morning about this, I realized that if we mentioned all our sponsors.

We would be here after Late Night with Seth Meyers ended and being a part of this class really means a lot. I have a connection with every person in a NASCAR Hall of Fame class of

2020

. 20 of my 21 years in NASCAR were driving for Joe Gibbs I went with people what Joe always said Joe surrounded me with some people at races , that's why we were able to win two championships in many races. One of those people Joe paired me with was Bobby Labonte when I joined Joe. Gibbs Racing in 1997, Bobby spent most of his time with me because that was when he needed help the most.

The transition from sprint cars, midgets, and Indy cars wasn't easy, but it was the time Bobby invested in me that made learning it a little easier. I could remember we were at Rockingham where the He took the time to come and check on me to see how I was doing with the car and walk out to the infield to the backstretch to see how we were doing, offer some advice and that meant a lot to me, but then the day came. and I followed everything that Bobby did and then the day came when I saw Bobby on a bike trainer and, like the Tour de France or something, eating healthy foods, talking about living a healthier lifestyle and I took a big giant shot of coke, grabbed a bag of Oreos and decided to do my thing, it turns out both lives, the house can get you into the Hall of Fame, but before I got the Gibbs, I started my NASCAR career with Harry Grenier and the Team manager was Waddell Wilson with Watt. and with the help of Waddell and Harry's son, Lorin Ranier, they took me to Buck Baker's driving school in Rockingham and the day I was there, Buddy Baker was also there to watch me do some laps and I remember it well, especially a sense of Pride that someone of the stature of a friend was paying attention to a guy from Indiana to have a connection with each member of this year's NASCAR Hall of Fame class is very special to me and all of them They had an influence early in my NASCAR career that allowed me to be in this place right now, of course getting to this place doesn't happen without sacrifice and I'm very proud that my entire family is here tonight, my mom and dad.

They made so many sacrifices to give me the opportunity to compete. karts and then midgets and sprint cars and I didn't know it at the time, but they mortgaged their house so I could go kart racing and there isn't a financial partner in the world who said that was a good idea and I still don't believe It was a good idea, but it was the first time I questioned their sanity, but they did it because they believed in me and I have to thank my sister Natalie for putting up with all that. Besides the typical fights between brothers and sisters, the races most often came first, but Natalie kept going and, even though I was too young and too naive at the beginning of my career or maybe later in my career, also say thank you , that's something I definitely appreciate.

I guess it's true that with age comes wisdom and since we're talking about family and since I don't have one of my own, I would be remiss if I didn't thank all the friends who were there as part of this trip. with me I'm sorry, Tulane, I know I told you I had to do this, you're these girlfriends, the time and the sacrifice meant a lot to me and then there's Greg Zipadelli, he's only four years older than me, but he became for me and I That seemed like 40 years of wisdom when Joe Gibbs paired us up in '99, he Greg is like a big brother to me, we had a few knockdown fights from time to time, something all brothers do sometimes, but he's a guy that He always supported me.

I wouldn't have been successful in NASCAR if I, if it hadn't been for Greg Zipadelli, he would have only been in NASCAR for three years without Greg by my side and that's why I had to have him back with us at Stewart-Haas. competing in my final chapter of Nascar and what remains the most rewarding chapter is my association with Haas and Stewart-Haas Racing Gene is one of the most astute businessmen I have ever met, but make no mistake Gene Haas is also a racer Basically, he wants to win, he's not interested in second place, he's all about trophies, that's the kind of guy you want to be shoulder to shoulder with when you come to NASCAR and I'm absolutely blessed to be a partner with him. .

I'm not someone who gets too sentimental. I'll leave it to Jeff Gordon. I didn't have an elite. A blessed life. Becoming a member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame is proof of that. Thank you for being here tonight and sharing this moment and thank you all. those days and Klump at the Columbus fairgrounds to the tracks where we raced a new bag for Indy Car and NASCAR and now back to this, the basics of sprint car racing for me, thanks for being a fan and a fan of the motorsports, it's been an incredible journey, but all the poles, laps led, wins, championships, trophies, awards and prestige, in the end they don't matter as much as the relationships I've built with everyone along the way and that It's what I value most, thanks guys. know